Searching for Excellence-Center for Leadership to award annual prize for leadership dissertation

The exciting connection between academic research and real world application will be celebrated for the 5th consecutive year at the Center for Leadership at Florida International University. The Center recently opened applications for The Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award which recognizes stellar new research that has substantial implications for leadership, regardless of industry. The award winner will be recognized at the Network of Leadership Scholars meeting at the Annual Academy of Management Conference, receives a monetary prize of $3000, and is invited to present at The Center’s Annual Leadership Research Colloquium in Miami.

A previous winner, Dr. Emily Grijalva from the University of Buffalo, focused on the implications of narcissism on leadership. Intuitively, narcissism seems counterproductive to good leadership, but Dr. Grijalva’s work elegantly demonstrates that a certain level of narcissism has positive implications for leadership effectiveness. It is this type of novel and applicable insight that earns the attention and recognition of the dissertation panel. The panel of blind reviewers is composed of professors from all over the country. They are experts in research methodology and specialize in areas such as Organizational Behavior, Business, and Industrial and Organizational Psychology. The panel is chaired by Dr. Nathan Hiller, Academic Director at The Center. “This is not a group of academic professionals who are looking to add to their plates,” says Dr. Hiller, “they believe in the spirit of the award and want to be involved in recognizing the rising stars of the leadership field. Their work has substantial implications for how we do business.”

Other previous recipients of The Center’s dissertation award include: Dr. Joo Hun Han, Assistant Professor, The State University of New Jersey; Dr. Amy Ou, Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore; and Dr. Stephen Courtright, Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University. In particular, Courtright’s work on team empowerment and self-management has been published in two top-tier academic journals, The Journal of Applied Psychology and The Journal of Management. The common thread of these winners is the significant contribution their research has to our understanding of workplace dynamics. They have also created scales and measures to pave the way for succeeding research in the hopes of furthering our understanding of human behavior.